Real Madrid: Bringing glory days back to the Bernabeu

Updated 21 August 2006

Pre-Season Summary
__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

Under Alex Sim, Real Madrid played a total of 9 pre-seson matches. The following are the stats, along with the top goal scorer, top assists, and best performer, and also a list of players injured.

Number of Home games: 9
Win: 8
Lose: 0
Draw: 1
Goals Scored: 18
Goals Conceed: 3

Number of Away games: 1
Win: 0
Lose: 1
Draw: 1
Goals Scored: 1
Goals Conceed: 3

Top Goal Scorer in Pre-Season: Ruud Van Nisteelrooy / Raul (4)
Top Assister in Pre-Season: David Beckham (5)
Best Performer of Pre-Seson: David Beckham

Injury List:
Cicinho: 1 Week
Diarra: 1 Week
Fernando Gago: 1 Week
Ronaldo: 3 Weeks

Before I post the next post, I'd like to say sorry to nuff_said because this is something like his idea, where he would make a picture and create a match thread. I didn't mean to copy it, but I thought it was really cool, and I just spent around 1hour designing a picture for my first match. I hope you don't mind, nuff_said. Your threads are awesome, and very inspirational to me!

Date: 26/8/2006
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Players Out: Cicinho, Diarra.
Stuffs to know: Real Zaragoza has played 3 pre-season matches, and have lost all of them.

Please feel free to discuss, predict, comment, critic, etc.
Special Thanks: nuff_said.

great job!!!

I hope RAUL AND RVN scores to win 2-0

HALA MADRID

Starting line-ups? Why didn't you buy Villa !? He wouldve been an amazing singnin.
Ribery?
Arango ( Mallorca )
Vaart ( HSV )

Updated 21 August 2006

21/07/06: "I'm looking forward" Alex, in his first professional conference
__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

Pre-season is about to end and this is where things heats up.
Yes, I know, and I'm really excited about it. The lads played really well during pre-season and trained really hard. I can tell they are just as excited as me.

What are your comments on your lost in pre-season.
We were playing away against Besiktas, and I really thought we should win. We had more possession, more shots, and we dominated the game. I guess luck just wasn't on our side. Their keeper became some sort of superhero, and saved almost everything that was put infront of him. We really deserved to win.

Whats the current situation of the suqad.
Some of the lads still do not have faith in me, but some are already believing me. The squad's morale is much better due to the wins we got from pre-season, and it will most certainly imporve as we progress.

What are your thoughts of your new signings.
Fabricio Coloccini is quality. He's an amazing center back, dominant in the air, and seldom lets his opponent pass him, a defender with almost no weakness. He will do excellent at the back. Fernando Gago on the other hand, I am still unable to comment as he hasn't played a match due to injury. All I can say is he is a great prospect, and I hope he will succeed in Real Madrid

Fans are question you about not signing Valencia's striker David Villa.
I heard rumours that his release clause was around £25million at the start, but when I my transfer funds expanded, his release clause changed to £87million! Even so, I had to improve on our backline first. I promise signings of forwards in the next transfer window.

Your first match is against Zaragoza.
Right now, Zaragoza's team morale is really low due to the fact they haven't won a single pre-season game. We're going into the match with an advantage, and we're playing at home. However, we shouldn't underestimate them as they're a strong squad as well, and we have to be really careful about Milito. I'm also afraid the loan of Carlos Diogo might come back to huant us.

What will be your possible starting lineup.
I cannot give a definate answer yet as anything can happen in 5 days. HOWEVER, if nothing goes wrong.
-----------------Casillas----------------
--Ramos--Canna--Fabricio--RC--
----------------Emerson-------------------
Beckham/Robinho-------------------Reyes/Cassano
---------------------Guti---------------------
----------Ruud------------Raul------

Updated 24 August 2006

Group Stages Drawn

Updated 27 August 2006

Real Madrid 2 - 0 Real Zaragoza: Ruud Brace.
__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

Real Madrid got off to a perfect start to the season after finishing Real Zaragoza at home. Real Madrid ran out as the deserved winner after dominating the game, where Ruud Van Nistelrooy showed Spain just how lethal his finishings are, with 2 beautiful goals assisted from Raul and Beckham.

Real Madrid wasn't shy to show Zaragoza just how good their frontline were, as Raul put the fans on their edge of their sits at the opening minutes, when he connected Roberto Carlos's cross with powerful header that skimmed the crossbar. Emerson too had his chance where he hit a volley first time from outside the box, but was saved just in time by Cesar.

Zaragoza didn't sit back, as they stepped a gear up after 10minutes. Sergio Ramos tackled the ball off Aimar, only to find the ball bobbling to a open Milito. Milito had plenty of time, but sent his powerful shot straight to Casillas.

Van Nistelrooy was played through by Guti with a stunning lob through ball which left the crowd cheering, but his shot too, was sent straight to Cesar. Beckham had the perfect opportunity to put Real Madrid in front at half time, as Real Madrid won a free kick at his favourite position. He flighted the ball well, but Cesar's quick reaction saved Zaragoza again.

The second half started slowly, where both sides were unable to attack for 15minutes. However, a wonderful pass by Beckham from the right flank put Van Nisteelrooy 1 on 1 with Cesar, and he made no mistake this time as he slots it home from a tight angle. The crowds were wild, and so was Alex Sim.

Zaragoza tried to peg back immediately from the kick off, and some poor defending allowed Milito to get his feet to the ball, but he couldn't direct his shot towards goal. Zaragoza switched to an 4-2-4 formation in the dying minutes, and the midfield was too thin to contain Real Madrid's attack. Ruud exchanged passes with Raul, and showed Zaragoza his dribbling techniques. Another 1 on 1 with Cesar, and another goal for Ruud to seal Real Madrid a well deserved victory.

Lineups
Real Madrid (4-1-2-1-2): Casillas, Ramos, Fabricio, Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Beckham (Robinho), Reyes, Guti (Casssano), Van Nistelrooy, Raul.
Zaragoza (4-1-2-1-2): Cesar, Diogo, Pique, G.Milito, Juanfran, Celades, Zapater, Aimar (Herrero), Alessandro (Longas), D.Milito (Sergio), Ewerthon

Elsewhere in Spain
Valencia 2 - 0 Mallorca
Villarreal 0 - 2 Atletico

Super Cup
Barcelona 2 - 0 Sevilla

Updated 30 August 2006

Atheltic Bilbao 2 - 1 Real Madrid: Ruud couldn't save Real. Casillas haplessly beaten.
__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

In a match where Real Madrid dominated, the scoreline reflected just how luck could help one side win. Real Madrid couldn't get their shots pass Daniel Aranzubia, while Athletic just slotted them pass Casillas. Real Madrid slip to 7th place in the table.

Atheltic took early control of the match and scored in the opening minutes. After some great flow of passing in the midfield, Athletic played the ball forward to Aduriz, who dodged Coloccini's tackle to go 1 on 1 with Casillas. Casillas managed to punch the shot away, only to find the ball bobble to Llorente to slot into an unguarded net.

Real Madrid started to get into the game in the 20 minute, taking full control of possession. Robinho was put through by Reyes with a beautiful flick header, but Aranzubia got his hands to Robinho's shot. Emerson pounced on the poor clearance and drived one from long range, but the shot was once again saved by Aranzubia.

Cassano was taken off early due to an injury, and was subbed by playmaker Guti.

Real Madrid piled the pressure and Ruud went 1 on 1 with Aranzubia after he stole the ball off Murillo at the half way line. Aranzubia closed down on Ruud quickly, and saved the shot. Real Madrid looked destined for an equaliser, as Robinho and Ruud continously took their shots, only to find them saved again and again by Aranzubia. And at the 43 minute, Casillas was haplessly beaten by Yeste's stunning free kick. Athletic went up by 2 in half time.

Athletic almost put themselves 3 up after a sloppy defending by Real Madrid, but an alert Casillas turned Javi Martinez's long range shot round the post.

Real Madrid finally got a deserved goal at the 47 minute,after Beckham intercepted Murillo's poor pass, and knocked it to the feet of Van Nistelrooy. The hitman slotted the ball calmly, and Real Madrid were back into the game.

Real Madrid continued to push forward in search for an equaliser, and hopefully a winning goal, but neither Ruud nor Raul could save Real Madrid from a very, very lucky Athletic.

Reyes was taken off late in the game due to injury.

Alex Sim said, "Athletic were out to kill us. They injured 3 of our key players, Reyes, Cannavaro and Cassano. The refree gave us 3 yellow cards but gave Athletic none. WHAT THE F**K!"

Lineups
Athletic Bilbao (4-4-2): Aranzubia(IDIOT KEEPER!!!), Irolo, Murillo, Sarriegi, Casas, Exposito (Luis Prieto), Martinez, Orbaiz, Yester, Llorente, Aduriz (Gabilondo (Fernando Amorebieta)),.
Real Madrid (4-1-2-1-2): Casillas, Ramos, Fabricio, Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Beckham (Robinho), Reyes, Guti (Casssano), Van Nistelrooy, Raul.

Elsewhere in Spain
Atletico 1 - 1 Celta
Barcelona (Have a game in hand) 3 - 1 R.Sociedad
Zaragoza 2 - 1 Valencia
Mallorca 0 - 2 Sevilla (Have a game in hand)

Updated 9 September 2006

Match Day 3: Real Madrid 4 - 1 Espanyol: Ruud, 4 goal hero.
__________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________

Real Madrid put their unlucky performance against Atheltic aside to beat Espanyol 4 goals to 1. Ruud Van Nistelrooy continues his stunning performance in La Liga, netting a total of 4 goals, 3 in the first half and 1 in the second half. Fernando Gago made an impressive debut, while Diego Lopez was given the chance to play as Casillas was out injured.

Only 5 minutes into the game, Real Madrid sent the crowd into cheers when Espanyol's keeper, Gorka made a poor clearance. The ball travelled less than 15yards, and Robinho was there to pick it up and head it to the path of V.Nistelrooy. Gorka tried to rush out but V.Nistelrooy reached the ball first, and drove the ball into an open net.

V.Nistelrooy had plenty of chances to score as he went 1 on 1 with the keeper after receiving Guti's through ball twice, but was twice saved by Gorka.

Beckham had to come off early due to injury, and was substituted by Alex Sim's signing, Fernando Gago.

In the 35 minute, Cassano played a superb ball for V.Nistelrooy. Chased by 2 defenders, V.Nistelrooy ran at full speed and drove the ball low first time. It was a stunning assist, followed by a stunning goal.

Espanyol pulled 1 back in the dying minutes of the half when Coloccini missed the interception, allowing Raul Tamudo to go 1 on 1 with Diego Lopez. He sent the ball into the top corner of the goal, and Espanyol was back into the game. But, before the final whistle, V.Nistelrooy put Real Madrid 2 goals up again after receiving a pinpoint pass by Fernando Gago. Espanyol was sinking without a trace.

Pace slowed down in the second half, as Real Madrid already had it in the bag. Fernando Gago almost scored on his debut, when his long shot went just over the bar. V.Nistelrooy upped his goal tally in the game to 4 after tapping in a poor clearing tackle from Hurtado.

Lineups
Real Madrid (4-1-2-1-2): Diego Lopez, Cicinho (Salgado), Sergio Ramos, Coloccini (Mejia), Beckham (Gago), Cassano, Guti (Casssano), Van Nistelrooy, Robinho
Espanyol (4-2-3-1): Gorka, Lacruz, Jarque, Velasco, D.Garcia, De La Pena, Jonatas (Hurtado), Zabaleta, L.Garcia, Pocognoli (Rufete), Tamudo (Pandiani).

Elsewhere in Spain
Barcelona 4 - 1 Deportivo
R.Sociedad 1 - 1 Atletico
Sevilla 2 - 2 Zaragoza
Valencia 1 - 0 Athletic

Next Match
Champions League Group Stage: Real Madrid vs Zurich

I miss the days when Villa had a € 30 million buy out.

You didn't take the team on a tour to Asia? You got to milk the Beckham cow while you can man.

Um...hello?

^ The season has been temporarly suspended due to lack of time

Hahaha .. Funny thread

I have also just started to play this game and it is fantastic but very time consuming in fact. Some questions for those who are more familiar with this game: I selected RM and a the RM players who started the season were given and only 13 M cash with which i could not buy anything. Is that the standard?

Funny thing, first thing i did ws to put Emerson on sale and next thing that happen he goes to the press declaring himself unhappy with me lol.

And i started very well in the pre-tour but then very bad in the competitions. loosing all of the starting matches. Then i changed to a strange formation which really worked and now i am in a 10 undefeated games in a raw, beating Barcelona on the way, and also winning 4 in the CL where i had lost the first 2 games. This is the formation i played:

Casillas

------ Ramos----Canna/Mehija-----Helguera

Cincihno----------------------------------------------RC
----------------------Diarra
-
-
-
-------------Reyes/Robinho-------------------Guti/Reyes
---------------RVN/Ronaldo---------Raul/RVN/Ronaldo

Sometimes i play with three playmakes and only one striker.

the most influential player has been Guti followed by Cichino.

It is the standard, and it's bogus. The Madrid researchers have no clue on this game. Add to our financing that the Reyes - Baptista deal still hasn't been fixed in the game, Torres can only play as a natural on the rightback position, Beckham was going to an Australian Galaxy team, our youth setup is below that of English teams, our B team players are underrated considering some are talents being looked at by other big clubs and they are maintaining themselves rather well in the second division (try doing that in this game without buying any players for the reserve team) The Espanyol loaned defender has no future clause.

If Madrid played in the English premier division, our finances would have tripled in this game while our youth players would have quite some future world class players.

Thank God there's an editor to remove the dodgy research team's opinions.

Thanks Oscar. Also i forgot to ask how come i cannot call any player from Castilla team to first team? Is it maybe because in the begining of the game i opted to play on the First division level only?

If the players of Castilla are in your game (not grey players, but real players) then you can play them. As far as I know even if you don't choose the 2nd division you should still have them in your game.

You only have to register them: either for the first team, the Castilla team, or the C team. Only when they are registered for one of these teams can you play them in a normal league game for the A team. You can play up to 6 players in one game that are registered for the B and C team.

I think that if you want to have the "real life" roster that RM has when the transfer window closes, you have to account for the fact that, by then, your transfer funds are already exhausted.

I did start a game a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that Beckham's transfer was not included in the new database (7.0.2 - it's no biggie as I let him go on a Bosman anyway), but Torres is much improved and can play RB and CB for starters, and LB with less than a month's positional training. I did fix the database for Reyes's clause (didn't pay it), Sergio Sanchez's clause (didn't pay it), Marcelo's transfer (it's still a future transfer, for some reason) and Baptista's transfer and clause (he hasn't signed for Arsenal yet, but in the game Arsenal did try to pay his clause and Baptista rejected their contract ). Mata has also been revamped a bit (although his progress has stumped in my game, he doesn't seem to be improving at all despite loan spells at Zaragoza), and players like Bueno, De la Red, Javi Garcia, Adan, Valero and Granero are I think adequately rated and above average for the 2nd division. You can even add Higuain to Castilla, as in the game he doesn't look quite ready for the first team.

If you buy and sell wisely, you can win silverware with the first team and maintain Castilla comfortably in the 2nd division (they were 6th with me, I think). There is one MUST to achieve this: you can't be too attached to Robinho...

The problem is that it's the same transfer budget as with 7.00
After which Madrid spent over 30 million on new players, showing the budget was incorrect
The same transfer budget remained in 7.01
After which Madrid got around 35 million from their new tv deal and 7 million from Ronaldo
The same transfer budget remained in 7.02

If Madrid wanted to buy a player today, they would have well over 10 million euros to spend.

If you look at certain English teams, who have spent their own share of moolah as well already, and that they have a bigger amount than Madrid. It's just ludicrous. Even if you would give Madrid a measly 10 million to spend on players, as the club with the biggest income for the 2nd year straight we would still have a bigger balance than the game gives us now.

well, i don't even have the three new signings (Marcelo, Gago, and Higuain). I may have an even older database. How can you update the database?

You can download it here:

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/2582092992

I think (I'm not certain) that the amount in transfer money that you get is also contingent on your reputation as a manager. For example, Fabio Capello might get 50 million to spend, but since you are John Q. Nobody the board isn't willing to trust you with more than those 10 mill. In my games, Sevilla almost always splashes 20+ million on big signings on their first season without selling anyone, and I'm pretty sure if I started the game as Sevilla I wouldn't get that transfer budget.

Also, in my game Arsenal wanted to pay Baptista's purchase option, which I set at around 20 million (the damn editor works in GBP as its default currency, so I couldn't set it exactly). That's 20 mill in cold, hard immediate cash, no spacing out the payments or adding clauses or anything, and I've played as Arsenal and I KNOW for a fact that the board doesn't give me that kind of money if I start as Arsenal's coach. They give it to Wenger, but not to me. Go figure

So yeah, it's just an added difficulty. TBH, if Lopez Caro or another unexperienecd coach had tried to sign some of the stuff I've signed in my game (a 19-year old Chilean sweeper, for example), they would've held the pursestrings pretty tight too.

The balance is independant of the transfer budget they give you, in the sense that wether you get a bigger (big name coach) or smaller (new untested coach) amount in transfer money from the bossman, the balance would be the same number in either case. It is too low a number.

¿Did you receive that amount? This could be a case of "club doesn't have the money to pay the transfer fee", or maybe Arsenal sold somebody, or Wenger just asked the board for more transfer money from the balance...which sometimes works for human managers as well.

No, The Beast rejected Arsenal's puny contract , so I don't know how it would've panned out.